Green, back

Alpina returns to racing with this most excellent 6-Series GT3 car

With manufacturers dropping out of motorsport quicker with plague-like rapidity – Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Suzuki, we’re looking at you – it's a good thing there’s at least one firm making a welcome return to the track.

Alpina, the German firm renowned for doing scary things to BMWs, is heading back to the grid after a two decade absence with this: the B6 GT3 racer. We like.

We first heard of Alpina’s return to the FIA GT3 series back in May 2008, but now we’ve got a whole bunch of photos and details of the 6-Series Coupe-based racer set to do battle with Corvettes, Gallardos and 911s on track this year.

The B6 is powered by a supercharged 4.4-litre V8 putting out just over 520bhp and 535lb ft of torque. In a car weighing around 1300kg, that should be good for a 0-60mph time on the sharp side of four seconds. The B6 has already reached 177mph in testing at the Nurburgring, and Alpina reckons it could go even faster.

We’ll see the B6 racer in the metal at Geneva next month, and then on the circuit shortly after. No word yet on who’ll be driving for the Alpina factory team… but we hear a Mr J Button might have a few spare weekends this summer.